How Pope Benedict Handled Abuse: 2 Revealing Case Studies

by Phil Lawlor

How has Pope Benedict XVI reacted to reports of pedophile priests? We now have
two revealing case studies. One case involves an otherwise ordinary parish
priest who had a record of molesting children. The future Pope-- then Archbishop
of Munich-- was never directly involved in his case, and appears to have known
very little about him. The other involves one of the most prominent, influential
priests in the Catholic Church: the head of a wealthy religious order, a man
with powerful friends at the Vatican. The future Pope Benedict led the charge
against him.

The first case is that of "Father H" in Munich. Then-Cardinal Ratzinger allowed
an accused abuser to live in a local rectory, and when his subordinate allowed
the accused priest to take up parish work, the cardinal evidently failed to
notice the assignment. But Father H was not a prominent priest. After his
transfer from another diocese he apparently did nothing to attract attention
during Cardinal Ratzinger's tenure in Munich. For all we know the future Pontiff
might never have met him. Should he have been more attentive to the dangers
posed by an abusive priest in his archdiocese? Probably.

The second case is that of the late Father Marcial Maciel, founder and head of
the Legion of Christ. By the time Cardinal Ratzinger took up his position as
prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Father Maciel had
already fended off one Vatican investigation. He had used his connections, and
the wealth of the Legionaries, to curry favor with other important Vatican
officials. In two eye-opening reports for the National Catholic Reporter, Jason
Berry has detailed how Maciel steadily expanded his influence within the Roman
Curia, especially the Secretariat of State. But Cardinal Ratzinger wasn't
buying. He refused gifts from the Legionaries. He pressed for a fresh
investigation of the abuse charges that had been lodged against Father Maciel.
At first pleas for a thorough inquiry were thwarted, but it is no coincidence
that shortly after his election as Benedict XVI the case moved forward, and soon
Maciel was permanently removed from active priestly ministry.

Father Maciel had enjoyed the protection of influential prelates. But Cardinal
Ratzinger did not protect him. On the contrary, in this case, when the pursuit
of a predator priest involved a long battle against entrenched interests at the
Vatican, the future Pontiff took up the struggle. If there was ever a case when
a cardinal would have been tempted to let an abusive priest escape punishment,
this was it. Pope Benedict did not let Maciel escape.